The present disclosure relates in general to a multi-spin poker gaming system which provides the player a predetermined game outcome.
The majority of the contemporary wagering gaming devices or gaming terminals, such as slot machines or poker games, randomly generate awards and other outcomes. Such gaming terminals typically include a relatively low probability associated with obtaining the highest award, relatively medium probabilities associated with obtaining medium range awards and relatively higher probabilities associated with obtaining low range awards. These gaming terminals also include probabilities associated with obtaining losses or no award at all. The probabilities of obtaining the awards and the amount of the awards determine the average expected pay out percentage of these wagering gaming terminals. Because each of the outcomes of these gaming terminals are completely individually and independently randomly determined, there is no certainty that a player will ever obtain any particular award. No matter how many times a player plays the game, since the gaming terminal generates each of the outcomes randomly or completely based upon a probability calculation, there is no certainty that the game will ever provide the player with a rare outcome, such as a jackpot award, or any other specific value for that matter. On the other hand, due to the random determination, the gaming terminal can provide the rare outcomes, such as jackpot awards, numerous times in a small number of plays.
For example, a probability-based $1 poker machine gaming terminal may be programmed to payback, on average, 95% of all wagers placed with a 1% chance of generating a $10 win outcome, a 5% chance of generating a $5 win outcome, a 10% chance of generating a $2 win outcome, a 40% chance of generating a $1 win outcome and a 44% chance of generating a $0 loss outcome. However, when one hundred game outcomes are generated by the probability-based poker machine gaming terminal, the actual payback may be 137% of all wagers placed and the actual generated outcomes may be six $10 win outcomes, one $5 win outcome, eighteen $2 win outcomes, thirty-six $1 win outcomes and thirty-nine $0 loss outcomes.
This uncertainty is faced by players and casinos or other gaming establishments. For example, certain casinos prefer that a relatively high number of players hit low awards while a relatively low number of players hit high awards. When players hit high awards periodically, casinos can attract more players, because of the positive publicity large wins generate. By using desired payback percentages or probabilities, the casinos can also expect to make a certain level of profit. The random determinations can, however, unexpectedly cause casinos to suffer a loss or, on the other hand, to reap a larger than expected profit in the short run and lose business in the long run due to a reputation for only paying out low awards.
Regulatory bodies in certain jurisdictions do not permit the use of probability-based gaming terminals in part for these reasons. These regulatory bodies permit the use of wagering gaming terminals which are guaranteed to provide certain or definite awards, so that, for example, a certain number of wins is guaranteed and the overall amount paid back to players is guaranteed. That is, the actual payback percentage is fixed and not an average expected amount. One type of gaming terminal which complies with this requirement is an instant-type lottery gaming terminal. An instant-type lottery gaming terminal includes a finite pool or set of electronic tickets with each electronic ticket assigned to a predetermined outcome. Alternatively, each electronic ticket could be assigned to a random number or game play seed which is deterministic of a predetermined outcome. In this embodiment, the gaming terminal utilizes the random number or game play seed in a selected deterministic random number generating algorithm to generate random numbers that the gaming terminal then uses to determine and provide the predetermined outcome. In an instant-type lottery gaming terminal, as the predetermined outcome for each electronic ticket is revealed to a player on the gaming terminal, the ticket is removed (i.e., flagged as used) from the finite pool or set of electronic tickets. Once removed from the pool or set, a ticket cannot be used again to determine another game outcome. This type of gaming terminal provides players with all of the available outcomes over the course of the play cycle and guarantees the actual wins and losses.
Since an instant-type lottery gaming machine has a finite pool of predetermined win/loss outcomes, it is possible to configure the pool to specific conditions or criteria requested by the casino or gaming establishment. An example of these conditions or criteria are the number of tickets included in the pool and the exact payback percentage or payback sum for the pool as a whole. The payback percentage or sum represents the guaranteed payout for the entire pool of predetermined outcomes. Other examples of conditions or criteria are what prizes will be awarded and the frequency of winning outcome tickets amongst the total number of tickets for the pool. For example, if a predetermined pool includes twenty $1 tickets and the pool has a payback sum of $10, then the pool might consist of one $5 win outcome, one $2 win outcome, three $1 win outcomes and fifteen $0 loss outcomes and may be represented as the following outcomes: 5, 2, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0. It should be appreciated that the above described pool of twenty tickets is for illustration purposes only and a pool could include any suitable desired number of tickets including a large number such as one million or more.
It should be appreciated that even though a pool may contain more than one of the same game outcome (i.e., the loss or the win and if a win, the value), the presentation to the player (such as the cards dealt or drawn in the case of simulated card games) is preferably varied for each sequential game outcome. For example, in the twenty ticket pool described above, while three game outcomes may each determine a win game outcome with a value of $1, in a poker game machine each game outcome will be preferably presented to the player as one of a plurality of different card combinations that all yield the same $1 win outcome.
Central determination gaming systems are also generally known. A central determination gaming system provides a plurality of individual gaming terminals, located in a gaming establishment, such as a casino, coupled by one or more communication links, to a central processor or controller. When a player plays a game on one of the gaming terminals, a game outcome is randomly generated based on probability data by the central controller. The generated game outcome and how the game outcome is to be presented or displayed to the player are communicated from the central controller to the individual gaming terminal and then provided to the player. It should be appreciated that one central processor may continuously run hundreds or thousands of individual gaming terminals at once. Additionally, each individual gaming terminal may include a plurality of different types of games played at a plurality of different denominations.
In order to comply with the above mentioned regulatory rules that do not permit the use of probability-based gaming terminals, central determination gaming systems have been implemented wherein the central system maintains one or more predetermined pools or sets of game outcomes. Each game outcome in each set or pool includes a game outcome component (i.e., a win, a loss, a secondary game trigger or other suitable outcome) with an associated value or payout amount, if any, and a game presentation component (i.e., how the game outcome is displayed or presented to the player). In these systems, when a player makes a wager on one of the gaming devices, the central system independently selects a game outcome from a set or pool of game outcomes and flags or marks the selected game outcome as used. Once a game outcome is flagged as used, it is prevented from further selection from the set or pool and cannot be selected by the central controller upon another wager. The selected game outcome is communicated to the individual gaming terminal. The individual gaming terminal displays or presents the game presentation component and provides the player the game outcome component with the associated value, if any, for the selected game outcome. Additionally, certain central determination gaming systems have also been implemented wherein the central system maintains one or more predetermined pools or sets of random number or game outcome seeds.
Central production or control can assist a casino or other entity in maintaining appropriate records, controlling gaming, reducing and preventing cheating or electronic or other errors, reducing or eliminating win-loss volatility and the like. However, it should be appreciated that some existing central determination gaming systems involve minimal to no player interaction other than initiating a game play at a gaming terminal. That is, similar to an instant type lottery game, the central controller selects a game outcome from the pool and the selected game outcome is provided to the player with the player unable to influence the provided game outcome. Therefore, a need exists for central determination gaming systems that provide an increased level of player interaction while still providing a predetermined game outcome to a player.
As described above, in addition to central determination gaming systems, other known gaming devices are operable to provide a player a predetermined outcome. In these gaming devices, rather than receiving an outcome from a central controller, the gaming device stores a plurality of predetermined outcomes in a memory device. Upon a player initiating a game at the gaming device, the predetermined outcome which will ultimately be provided to the player is selected and flagged or marked as used. The gaming device then proceeds with one or more game sequences and upon the conclusion of the game sequences, the selected predetermined outcome is provided to the player. In another embodiment, a predetermined game outcome is determined based on the results of a bingo or keno game. In this embodiment, a plurality of individual gaming device each utilizes one or more bingo or keno games to determine the predetermined game outcome which will be provided to the player for any game played at that gaming device.
Poker games such as draw poker games are also well known. In a typical draw poker game, a gaming device initially deals five cards all face up from a conventional virtual deck of fifty-two playing cards. The gaming device enables the player to select the cards, if any, to hold via one or more input devices, such as pressing related hold buttons or via the touch screen. The player then presses the deal button and the gaming device removes each of any unwanted or discarded cards from the display. The gaming device replaces each removed playing card with another card dealt from the remaining cards in the deck. This results in a five-card hand which the gaming device evaluates or compares to a payout table which utilizes conventional poker hand rankings to determine the winning hands. The gaming device provides the player with an award, if any, based on a winning hand and the amount of credits the player wagered on the hand.
Another known poker game includes multiple hands of poker played simultaneously. In one such game, the gaming device generates or deals a plurality of hands of cards, such as three, five, ten, fifty or one-hundred individual hands of cards. In alternative versions, (i) the gaming device initially deals or displays the same playing cards for each of the individual hands of cards, or (ii) the gaming device only deals or displays playing cards for a primary hand and the remaining simultaneously played hands do not initially display any individual playing cards. The gaming device enables the player to choose the playing cards to hold, if any, in a primary hand. The held cards in the primary hand are also held in each of the remaining hands of cards. After holding zero, one or more cards in the primary hand (and thus holding zero, one or more of the same cards in each of the remaining hands), the gaming device removes the remaining non-held playing cards from each of the hands of cards. For each hand of cards, the gaming device independently deals or generates a replacement card for each removed, non-held playing card, wherein each hand of cards is associated with its own deck of cards. The gaming device compares each individual poker hand, hand by hand, to a payout table which utilizes conventional poker hand rankings to determine the award, if any, associated with each of the individual poker hands. The gaming device determines a total award based on any of the determined awards and provides the determined total award to the player.
In another type of poker game with multiple hands played simultaneously, one or more cards are included in a plurality of poker hands. In this poker game, known as spin poker or hand-spin poker, a plurality of playing cards are generated or dealt in a plurality of playing card positions on a plurality of virtual reels. In one spin poker gaming device, each playing card position includes a separate reel, such as a unisymbol reel. In this spin poker gaming device, the reel strip associated with each reel includes each of the playing cards that may be dealt to a player in a poker game. A plurality of paylines run through the plurality of playing card positions, wherein each wagered on payline represents an individual poker hand played by the player. That is, similar to how a symbol generated on a reel may be simultaneously intersected by a plurality of different overlapping paylines and thus be included in a plurality of symbol combinations, a playing card generated at a playing card position in a spin poker game may be simultaneously intersected by a plurality of overlapping paylines and thus be included in a plurality of individual poker hands. For example, as seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, even though only fifteen playing cards are dealt or generated on the reels, the gaming device utilizes these fifteen playing cards to form nine individual poker hands of five playing cards each. In this example: the playing cards of the seven of clubs, the jack of spades, the queen of diamonds, the six of hearts and the nine of diamonds generated along a first payline (i.e., payline #1 of FIG. 1) form a first individual poker hand (i.e., Hand #1 of FIG. 2), the playing cards of the seven of clubs, the two of diamonds, the four of hearts, the five of spades and the nine of diamonds generated along a second payline (i.e., payline #2 of FIG. 1) form a second individual poker hand (i.e., Hand #2 of FIG. 2) and the playing cards of the seven of clubs, the two of diamonds, the seven of hearts, the king of diamonds and the ten of clubs generated along a third payline (i.e., payline #3 of FIG. 1) form a third individual poker hand (i.e., Hand #3 of FIG. 2).
It should be appreciated that since in a spin-poker game, a plurality of playing cards are generated in a plurality of playing card positions on a plurality of reels and a plurality of overlapping paylines run through the plurality of playing card positions to form a plurality of individual poker hands, which playing cards are generated in which playing card positions determines the total payout amount for all of the played poker hands. That is, if even one playing card generated in one playing card position is changed, depending on the number of paylines which overlap and intersect this one playing card position, at least one and most likely a plurality of poker hands are changed to reflect this one changed playing card. For example, as seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, if the seven of hearts playing card generated in the middle playing card position of the third reel column is changed to the ace of clubs playing card, then the poker hand formed along payline #3 no longer results in a pair of sevens poker hand and the poker hands formed along paylines #4 and #7 each now result in winning, pair of aces poker hands.
In one embodiment of such a spin poker game, the gaming device deals or generates a plurality of cards in a plurality of playing card positions along a primary payline to form a primary poker hand. In one embodiment, the gaming device deals or generates a plurality of playing cards in a plurality of playing card positions along a plurality of additional paylines to form zero, one or more additional poker hands. In these embodiments, the gaming device enables the player to choose the playing cards to hold, if any, in the primary hand. The gaming device duplicates each held playing card in the primary poker hand in all of the playing card positions of the same reel column as the held playing card and thus, each held playing card in the primary hand is also held in each of the remaining poker hands. After holding zero, one or more playing cards in the primary hand (and thus holding zero, one or more of the same playing cards in each of the remaining hands of cards), the gaming device removes the remaining non-held playing cards from the primary poker hand. For each non-held playing card, the gaming device independently generates, via the reels for each vacant playing card position, a replacement playing card. As described above, the held playing cards and the replacement playing cards form a plurality of individual poker hands. The gaming device compares each individual poker hand, hand by hand, to a payout table which utilizes conventional poker hand rankings to determine the award, if any, associated with each of the individual poker hands. The gaming device determines a total award based on any of the determined awards and provides the determined total award to the player.
Some known gaming devices have attempted to provide a poker game wherein the outcome is predetermined. In these known games, a player is shown a first group of cards and invited to select one or more cards to be discarded. The player is then shown a second group of cards and a payoff is provided if the second group of cards is a winning hand according to a predetermined payout schedule. In these games, the initial group of cards and the second group of cards are both predetermined prior to the time the game is played. For this reason, there can often be an inconsistency between the player's selection of cards that are to be discarded and the transition from the initial group of cards to the second group of cards. This inconsistency can interfere with the desired simulation of a card game which provides a predetermined outcome.
One known gaming device described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,729,961 includes a poker game wherein an initial hand of cards is displayed to a player. The player designates which of the initial hand of cards are to be held and which are to be discarded and the game displays an intermediate hand generated in accordance with the player-specified designations. In this gaming device, a second hand which is associated with a value equal to the value associated with the predetermined game outcome is shown and in those cases where the player-specified designation (Hold/Discard) is inconsistent with a transition from the intermediate hand to the second hand, an entertaining display is shown and the predetermined game outcome is provided to the player.
Additionally, if there is an inconsistency between the award provided for the player's second hand which is based on the player's selections of cards to be discarded and the award associated with the predetermined outcome, other known gaming devices employ a mystery win card to increase the provided win amount up to the win amount associated with the predetermined game outcome. In other known gaming devices, any inconsistency between the award provided for the player's second hand which is based on the player's selections of cards to be discarded and the award associated with the predetermined outcome is held in an escrow or progressive pool to be subsequently provided to a player.
It should be appreciated that to provide a predetermined game outcome to a player that is simultaneously playing a plurality of poker hands, the predetermined game outcome must be divided over one or more of the simultaneously played poker hands while taking into account the different amounts wagered on the different simultaneously played poker hands. That is, the gaming device must find a distribution of outcomes which adds up to the award amount or value of the predetermined game outcome. For example, in a ten-play poker gaming device (i.e., a gaming device which enables a player to simultaneously player ten poker hands), there must be exactly ten individual payout amounts which each match a payout from the applicable paytable of poker game outcomes, that all add up to the award or value of the predetermined game outcome. However, a ten-play poker game with ten possible payout amounts includes 92,378 different possible distributions of poker game outcomes. For example, using only the payout values of 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 25, 50 and 250, these ten individual payout values may be combined (using one or more distributions) to add up to the following values:                747: There is exactly 1 distribution:                    250, 250, 50, 50, 50, 50, 25, 9, 9, 4                        748: There is no distribution.        749: There is exactly 1 distribution:                    250, 250, 50, 50, 50, 50, 25, 9, 9, 6                        750: There are 5 distributions:                    250, 250, 250, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0            250, 250, 50, 50, 50, 50, 50, 0, 0, 0            250, 250, 50, 50, 50, 50, 25, 25, 0, 0            250, 250, 50, 50, 50, 25, 25, 25, 25, 0            250, 250, 50, 50, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25, 25                        993: There is 1 distribution:                    250, 250, 250, 50, 50, 50, 50, 25, 9, 9                        994-999: There is no distribution.        1000: There are 4 distributions:                    250, 250, 250, 250, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0            250, 250, 250, 50, 50, 50, 50, 50, 0, 0            250, 250, 250, 50, 50, 50, 50, 25, 25, 0            250, 250, 250, 50, 50, 50, 25, 25, 25, 25                        
This problem is only magnified if more poker hands are simultaneously played. For example, a twenty-play poker game with ten possible payout amounts includes 10,015,005 possible distributions of poker game outcomes and a fifty-play poker game with ten possible payout amounts includes 12,565,671,261 possible distributions of poker game outcomes. It should be appreciated that since the gaming device enables the player to play a variable number of simultaneously played poker hands (i.e., the player may play one to ten poker hands in a ten-play poker game), each different number of played poker hands includes a different number of possible distributions of poker game outcomes. For example, if a player is simultaneously playing seven poker hands in a ten-play poker game, the gaming device must utilize a different set of possible distributions than if the player were simultaneously playing six or eight poker hands in the ten-play poker game. It should be further appreciated that each set of possible distributions is specific to the number of possible payout amounts and the value of each possible payout amount, wherein if the number of possible payout amounts or the value of each possible payout amount changes, so may the set of possible distributions.
Moreover, in a spin poker gaming device, once a distribution has been selected, the gaming device must still determine which cards to draw to complete that distribution. If no cards are held, there are 982,869,376,029,609,100,032,000 ways to draw 15 cards. If 1 card is held, there are 25,028,504,609,870,361,600 ways to draw 12 cards. If 2 cards are held, there are 494,478,121,737,600 ways to draw 9 cards. If 3 cards are held, there are 7,731,052,560. If 4 cards are held, there are 97,290 ways to draw 3 cards. Accordingly, it is not practical for a gaming device to try all possible distributions to determine an appropriate distribution of poker game outcomes or to determine that no solution or appropriate distribution exists. Therefore, since the gaming device must react quickly to the player's choice, a need exists for a gaming system and method to quickly select an appropriate distribution or determine that no solution exists.
Accordingly, many challenges exist in providing a predetermined game outcome to a player simultaneously playing a plurality of poker hands. One challenge which must be overcome in providing a predetermined game outcome to a player that is simultaneously playing multiple hands of poker is determining which playing cards to draw in each of the simultaneously played poker hands to produce a total payout amount for all of the played poker hands equal to the value or payout associated with the predetermined game outcome. After determining the payout associated with the predetermined game outcome, the gaming device must determine (based on the playing cards the player designated to hold and discard as well as the amount wagered on each of the simultaneously played poker hands) one or more distributions of poker game outcomes for the simultaneously played poker hands which would result in a total payout for all of the simultaneously played poker hands equaling the payout associated with the predetermined game outcome.
Additionally, in providing a spin-poker game with a predetermined game outcome, not only must the gaming device determine one or more distributions of poker game outcomes for the simultaneously played poker hands which would result in a total payout for all of the simultaneously played poker hands equaling the payout associated with the predetermined game outcome, the gaming device must also determine which playing cards to generate in which playing card positions to result in one of the determined poker game outcome distributions. As described above, since at least one playing card in at least one playing card position is included in a plurality of individual poker hands (based on the number of overlapping paylines which run through this one playing card position), determining which playing card to generate in even one playing card position influences a plurality of the individual poker hands played. As at least one playing card generated in at least one playing card position affects a plurality of the individually played poker hands, which playing cards are generated in which playing card positions thus affects if the total payout for all of the individually played poker hands equals the predetermined game outcome. Accordingly, the greater the number of wagered on, overlapping paylines, the greater the likelihood that at least one playing card generated in at least one playing card position will affect a plurality of simultaneously played poker hands and the lower the likelihood that the gaming device will be able to generate the appropriate playing cards in the appropriate playing card positions to form a plurality of poker hands with a total payout equal to a predetermined game outcome value. Thus, even if a gaming device determines an appropriate distribution of poker game outcomes for the simultaneously played poker hands which results in a total payout for all of the simultaneously played poker hands equaling the payout associated with the predetermined game outcome, if the gaming device is unable to generate the appropriate playing cards in the appropriate playing card positions to form a plurality of poker hands which form the determined poker game outcome distribution, the predetermined game outcome cannot be provided to the player without causing one or more of the inconsistencies described above.
Therefore, a need exists for a central determination gaming system wherein a player may play a plurality of simultaneous hands in a spin-poker game and a predetermined game outcome is provided to the player.